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"Mortal man," he said, "look toward the mountains of Israel and give them my message.

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Tell the mountains of Israel to hear the Sovereign Lord's word - to hear what I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling the mountains, the hills, the gorges, and the valleys: I will send a sword to destroy the places where people worship idols.

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The altars will be torn down and the incense altars broken. All the people there will be killed in front of their idols.

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I will scatter the corpses of the people of Israel; I will scatter their bones all around the altars.

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All the cities of Israel will be destroyed, so that all their altars and their idols will be smashed to pieces, their incense altars will be shattered, and everything they made will disappear.

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People will be killed everywhere, and those who survive will acknowledge that I am the Lord.

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"I will let some escape the slaughter and be scattered among the nations,

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where they will live in exile. There they will remember me and know that I have punished them and disgraced them, because their faithless hearts deserted me and they preferred idols to me. And they will be disgusted with themselves because of the evil and degrading things they have done.

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They will know that I am the Lord and that my warnings were not empty threats."

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The Sovereign Lord said, "Wring your hands! Stamp your feet! Cry in sorrow because of all the evil, disgusting things the Israelites have done. They are going to die in war or of starvation or disease.

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Those far away will get sick and die; those nearby will be killed in war; those who survive will starve to death. They will feel all the force of my anger.

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Corpses will be scattered among the idols and around the altars, scattered on every high hill, on the top of every mountain, under every green tree and every large oak, in every place where they burned sacrifices to their idols. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord.

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Yes, I will reach out and destroy their country. I will make it a wasteland from the southern desert to the city of Riblah in the north, not sparing any place where the Israelites live. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord."